Hold on Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Followed by Long Delay of Jean Nouvel’s Middle Eastern Louvre

With the news earlier this week that the Guggenheim‘s planned new, Frank Gehry-designed museum in Abu Dhabi was being put on hold over contract reviews, concern has spread from if not just if that museum will get finished, but if similar issues will spread across the area. The APreports that there is now worry that a branch of the Louvre, which was designed by Jean Nouvel and was originally slated to open on Saadiyat Island in 2012, the same spot as the Guggenheim, won’t make it to completion. The state-run organization behind the area, the Tourism Development and Investment Company, has told the AP that everything is still moving forward, but they just won’t exactly hit that 2012 deadline. Instead, it’s now been pushed way back to 2013. This, of course, does little to put concerns to bed, since push backs, albeit a normal thing for massive projects such as these, are also generally the first steps toward a development falling apart. However, the TDIC stresses to the news service that “The developer insisted that all projects on the island will be completed.” Only time shall tell.